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Short term daily and weekly rentals are now allowed in all residential areas of Montgomery County, Maryland, beginning July 1, 2018.

Previously, no residential rentals were permitted in Montgomery County for less than 30 days. Faced with widespread illegal daily and weekly rentals, the County Council passed legislation in October, 2017 to allow these rentals where the property is the primary residence of the owner or owner-authorized resident of the rental property. However, condominiums, homeowner associations and housing cooperatives are still allowed to ban or restrict short term rentals. Continue reading →

The hot topic during the 2018 Maryland legislative session was how Maryland will adapt to recent changes in federal income tax and health insurance laws.

Beyond the headlines, the Maryland General Assembly considered many bills which directly affect Maryland condominiums, homeowner associations, and housing cooperatives. Several new laws which help condos and HOAs were enacted.Continue reading →

Where a word or phrase used in the declaration of covenants for a condominium or homeowners association is not defined in the covenants or by statute, the board of directors has broad discretion to adopt rules which explain how the provisions of the covenants will be applied.

If there are no community rules which define what constitutes a “commercial vehicle”, it is likely that a court would apply the Maryland statutory definition of “commercial motor vehicle” used in connection with the requirements for obtaining a commercial driver’s license. Under that definition, a commercial vehicle includes any vehicle with a gross weight rating of at least 26,001 pounds; a vehicle designed to transport 16 or more passengers; or any size vehicle used to transport hazardous materials. Excluded from the statutory definition are fire and rescue vehicles with audible and visual signals. Continue reading →

Faced with a class action suit based on a Montgomery County towing law which makes a property owner liable for the actions of a towing company which is hired to tow unauthorized vehicles, dozens of condominiums and homeowner associations have agreed to settle the suit by paying nearly $400 per tow.

The suit was filed as a class action suitby vehicle owners against over 500 property owners in connection with over 20,000 tows. It claimed that the towing company improperly asserted a possessory lienon the towed vehicles by refusing to release the vehicle until the tow charges were paid. It also claimed that the towing company violated County and Maryland law by not providing required notices to the vehicle owners when they came to retrieve their vehicles and by imposing charges for credit card payment.

Although the condos, homeowner associations, and other property owners were not directly involved in the violation of towing law procedures, Montgomery law imposes joint and several liabilityon property owners for a towing company’s actions and imposes liability for three times the expenses incurredby the vehicle owner.

The cost of each tow was between $168 and $178 which could have resulted in damages of $504 and $534 per tow. Therefore, the trial court judge who approved the settlement in January 2018 found the settlement of $390 per tow to be “fair, reasonable and adequate”. Each property owner also was required to pay about $28 per tow as a portion of the legal fees incurred to defend and settle the suit based on a pro rata share of the number of tows which were part of the settlement.

Some condominiums, HOAs and other property owners opted not to settle the suit and the litigation of legal defenses and factual issues may continue to trial.

Although many contracts between the property owners and towing company require the towing company to indemnify the property owners for any improper or unlawful action by the towing company, an agreed $22 million judgmentagainst towing the company with a payment of over $300,000 forced the company out of business and left the property owners without recourse against the towing company. The claims against some condos and HOAs were covered by the association’s insurance.

Because condos, homeowner associations, and housing co-ops in Montgomery County, Maryland can be liable for up to three times the cost of an improper tow, each association which tows vehicles from the common property should ensure that its towing contract requires the towing company to provide and follow towing procedures which comply with state and local law.

Posted by Thomas Schild Law Group, LLC, attorneys for condominiums, homeowner associations and housing cooperatives in Maryland -– including Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Howard County, Frederick County, and Baltimore County; and in Baltimore City and Washington, D.C.

A Maryland appeals court has ruled that emails sent to owners in a Baltimore condominium association by the condo President regarding a recent burglary were not defamatory with regard to the owner whose condominium unit was broken into.

An email was sent to another owner who reported the burglary and copied to several board members in part stating: “What do you think I should do in response to your email? Should I ask to be appointed police commissioner so I can station cops in our community 24/7? Should I tell our neighbors not to associate with criminals who might want to cause harm to them”?

A developer’s Declaration notifies the purchaser of the property of a potential lien for unpaid assessments, but is not sufficient to create an assessment lien, according to a recent decision of the Maryland Court of Appeals–the top state appeals court. A lien based on the contractual obligation to pay assessments is valid only if the party asserting the lien complies with the notice procedures of the Maryland Contract Lien Act.

At issue, in Select Portfolio Servicing, Inc. v. Saddlebrook West Utility Company, LLC, was a claimed lien as part of a deferred financing arrangement for the construction of the water and sewer infrastructure for a new home development in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Continue reading →

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Condo & HOA Law News

The Thomas Schild Law Group provides legal services to community associations – condominiums, homeowners associations, and cooperatives – in Maryland and the District of Columbia. We also represent property owners regarding contract review, business disputes, and debt collection.

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This Blog and The Thomas Schild Law Group Web Site include general legal information and should not be relied on with respect to any specific facts and circumstances. No attorney-client relationship is created by viewing this Blog or the Thomas Schild Law Group Web Site. We disclaim any responsibility or liability for any loss or damage sustained by reliance on the material contained herein or by any error or omission in such material. Blog and Web Site visitors are encouraged to consult an attorney as to the current law applicable to particular situations.